A “call center” is the part of an organization that handles inbound and outbound communications with customers or members. Call centers often experience inbound calling queues where callers are placed on-hold until a service representative, or sometimes called a member service representative (MSR, i.e., where the call center serves an organization having members to be serviced), can attend to them. This is problematic for businesses, such as member service organizations, whose goal is to achieve extremely high customer or member satisfaction. (The terms “customer” and “member” are sometimes used interchangeably in this specification.) This is especially problematic in situations where hold-time is perceived negatively by callers. Approaches to solving this problem have included: (a) providing additional staff to service customers during high call volume; (b) driving customers to self-service facilities, such as those provided by a web server (this may include both driving traffic there by suggesting it with a voice instruction as well as generally encouraging that channel through other non-concurrent means); and (c) providing automated systems that “distract” the caller, e.g., with music or other entertainment.
The costs of maintaining a call center include the salary and benefits paid to employees. In an effort to reduce such costs, improved efficiency may require that a call center be staffed such that there is an insufficient number of service representatives on duty during periods of peak call volume, which in turn can result in callers having to wait long periods before speaking with a service representative. To address this and other issues, call centers today may attempt to move calls from a live agent into a self-service channel. This is illustrated in FIG. 1 and discussed below.
Customers calling into automated call centers are typically directed to standard speech recognition applications and hence all customers may hear the same call flows and options. This model can be inefficient in that a customer may be required to listen to all the standard call flows and options even if the particular customer does not need these. This results in increased call durations, which leads directly to increased costs per call. The use of standard call flows and options also waste other resources as well as the customer's time. Standard call flows and options are also impersonal to the caller and hence caller satisfaction is reduced. As a result, some callers tend to disfavor automated call centers and prefer to speak in person to a live call center service representative. Accordingly, there is a need to improve the caller experience achieved by automated call centers in which a live service representative speaks to individual callers.
A common approach to operating a call center is depicted in FIG. 1. As shown, the incoming call is received, step 10, and will be either delivered to the least occupied or highest skilled agent (or MSR), step 12; or else, if all representatives are busy, the call will be placed in a queue, steps 14-26. The system will typically determine whether the estimated wait time (EWT) is less than a prescribed value (say, 60 seconds), step 14, and then play a selected announcement depending on the EWT.
For example, if the EWT is less than 60 seconds, a first delay announcement is played: “At the present time all representatives are assisting other callers. Please remain on the line for the next available representative.” (Step 16.) Alternatively, if the EWT is equal to or greater than 60 seconds, the system may play the following announcement: “At the present time all representatives are assisting other callers. Your approximate wait time is XX minutes.” (Step 18. In this example, XX represents the current EWT in minutes.) Following the playing of the EWT announcement, the system may then suggest that the caller try an alternative channel, i.e., a related website, and then follow this by playing music for a period of time (e.g., 60 seconds). (Steps 20, 22.) This may then be followed by a second delay announcement (step 24) and another period of music playing, step 26, as shown in FIG. 1.
The process described above and depicted in FIG. 1 is fairly common and can be acceptable in some situations. However, there is room for improvement in this process, particularly where it is deemed to be necessary or desirable to reduce the amount of time the caller is required to wait on the phone before speaking with a service representative.
One approach to improving call center customer experience involves the use of so-called Virtual Hold Technology. See, e.g., the document entitled The Impact of Automated Return-Call Systems, “A Real-World Case Study”, by Dr. Jon Anton, et al. (March 2003), a copy of which is being submitted with an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed herewith. See also www.virtualhold.com. This technology permits callers to hang up the phone while maintaining their place in line (i.e., in the call queue). The call center returns the customer's call, purportedly in the same amount of time as if the caller had waited on hold. Moreover, the above-cited case study discloses that an “ideal system” should:                1. Interface with the automatic call director (ACD) to: (a) monitor and record the length of time that a call waits in queue before being answered; and (b) seize the call when the actual wait time exceeds a predetermined threshold.        2. Include an interactive voice response system (IVR) to: (a) inform the caller of the predicted wait time to reach a customer service representative (CSR); (b) offer the caller the option to: (i) remain on hold; (ii) place a request to the call center for a return call when a CSR is available; or (iii) schedule a request for a return call by a CSR at a more convenient time for the caller; (c) return the call to the ACD queue if the caller declines the return-call offer; (d) capture the caller's contact information and return telephone number if the caller elects to receive a return call; and (e) register the time the caller requests a return call to occur.        3. Provide an interface with the computer telephony integration (CTI) server to capture required information about the caller;        4. Ensure no functionality is lost when the return call occurs and the call is released to a CSR;        5. Include an automatic dialer to: (a) dial the caller's telephone number at the time scheduled for the return call to occur; (b) monitor the call progress tones to determine when the placed call is answered; (c) determine when the person who placed the initial call is on the phone; (d) transfer the call to the ACD to be answered by the next available CSR; and (e) follow business rules established by call center management when the return call does not reach the customer who originally placed the call. These rules can include an attempt to place the call again later, or leave a recorded message for the customer to call back.        6. Contain an administrative and reporting system that includes: (a) a real time monitor showing the current state of both the ACD and automated return-call system queues; (b) a comprehensive and customizable historical reporting subsystem; (c) easy to use administrative tools to configure and change settings and control options, and optimize system performance.        
A goal underlying the technology described herein is to provide an alternative method and system for managing a call queue in order to provide member-initiated outbound calling.